Victoria Institution, Jalan Hang Tuah, 55200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia E-Mail : [email protected]

Victoria Institution, Jalan Hang Tuah, 55200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia E-Mail : Tsc1021@Tm.Net.My

Malaysian Journal of Library & Information Science, Vol.4, no.2, December 1999: 1-20

INTERNET USE AMONGST SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA

S.H. Wee Victoria Institution, Jalan Hang Tuah, 55200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia E-mail : [email protected]

ABSTRACT

This study identifies the pattern of Internet use among 608 upper secondary science students from fourteen schools in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. All schools have computers, out of which 9 have Internet facilities and 3 Internet terminals are located in the school resource centres. About 51.5% of respondent used the Internet. The main reasons for non-use are lack of skill and non-availability. The users mainly accessed the Net from their homes and acquired Internet skills by self-teaching or learning from friends. Slightly over 70% of Net users spent less than 5 hours a week on various functions, but few used it for study-related activities. The average time spent on the Internet was 4.89 hours per week. Most of the Net users (91.4%) explored the World Wide Web while 75.4% used E-mail, 52.1% used IRC or ICQ, 15.7% joined Newsgroups, 2.2% used it for downloading, and 0.6% used it for playing online games. Major problems faced were “lack of skills” and “lack of time”. The Internet was perceived to be a rich information reservoir that provides fast and efficient access to information. The majority believed that Internet did not affect their learning process, with 20.7% reporting a positive effect and 4.5% a negative effect. There were significant relationships between the use of Internet with gender, English grade, parents’ level of education, parents’ income, availability of Internet in school, and locality of Internet in school.

Keywords: Internet use; Information sources; Secondary schools; School students; Information literate; Kuala Lumpur.

INTRODUCTION In 1989, a Joint council of the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Malaysian Computers in Malaysian Schools Institute of Microelectronics System (MIMOS) proposed the computer-in- In the 1980s, computer clubs in schools education (CIE) policy. It recommended provided opportunities for teachers and the shift from teaching computer literacy schools to be familiar with personal to the integration of computers in the computers. In 1981, the La Salle Se- teaching-learning process across the cur- condary School in Petaling Jaya, Se- riculum. The following year witnessed langor set up the first computer club in the launching of the Atom-1 PC com- Malaysia. Many schools follow suite patibles, the personal computer designed subsequently. and produced locally to provide for a Wee, S.H.

cost-effective and functional computer of education in Malaysia compatible use in the schools. The Computer with those in developed countries. The Intergrated Learning System (ComIL), a network would also provide access to software written in the Malay language information from government depart- was launced on August 8, 1991 to be ments and research centres. The National used as the basic tool to generate edu- Education Network is also viewed as a cational materials tailored to local tool for Malaysian students to acquire curriculum needs (Shukor, 1992). In 1992, the necessary skills to meet the need of sixty schools were equipped with com- future workforce in the era of infor- puters costing RM4.3 million as part of mation technology. Through this net- the CIE pilot project. Each of the schools work the Internet was introduced to was equipped with twenty Atom-1 PCs many secondary schools, both in the that were networked with a server. In urban and rural settings. Many schools this project, a new computer literacy pro- have sourced their own funding to equip ject syllabus was to be introduced to their schools with Internet facilities. secondary one and two students. In 1996, the MOE announced the Smart Schools With the rapid advancement of informa- Project. Ninety schools are expected to tion technology and a decline in the price receive thirty-eight units of computers of personal computers, information sour- each in 1999 under this project. The com- ces have become affordable to students puters are to be located in the school’s both in printed form and online. The administration office, teachers’ room, the question is, are Malaysian students using library and computer laboratory. the online sources available to them? Are they information literate? According to Internet in Malaysian Schools Tenopir and King (1996), only those who are information literate will thrive On 14 June 1994, the Ministry of Edu- and succeed. Doyle (1994) stressed that cation announced another joint council the “individual of the 21st century must project called the National Education have the ability to access information, Network or Jaringan Pendidikan (Zul- evaluate, and use information from a kifly, 1994). The project involves fifteen variety of sources” in order to be con- secondary schools nation-wide linked to sidered information literate. These sour- the Internet via Jaring, the Malaysian ces include traditional paper-based infor- gateway to the international computer mation as well as digital information. network. The main objective of this project is to provide opportunities for AIMS AND OBJECTIVES teachers and students to communicate, access and share a variety of information With the MOE efforts, tax incentives and through the use of computers (KPM, various advantages offered by the Inter- 1994). Another objective is to enable net, it is expected that Malaysian secondary school students to communi- students would exploit this media for cate and exchange information with personal and educational purposes. This students from other parts of the world via study aims to find out the patterns of computers, hence uplifting the standard Internet use amongst upper secondary 2 Internet Use Amongst Secondary School Students

science students, especially how the centages were based on the actual re- Internet is used for study or school-rela- sponses of each item listed in the ted activities. The effects of the Internet questionnaire. on the students’ learning process, the usefulness of the Net and problems RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS associated with its use, as perceived by The availability of computer and Internet the students, are also investigated. facilities in school and at home is expected to influence the use of Internet METHODOLOGY by students.

This study has chosen the schools in Computers and Internet Facilities Kuala Lumpur for three reasons. Firstly, in School the infrastructure for Internet connections is available throughout the city and All the fourteen schools have computer more likely to be available in respon- facilities, the least being two units while dents’ homes. Secondly, the schools un- at the other extreme, one school has 81 der study included those that have units (Table 1). The average student- already been provided with Internet con- computer ratio is 72 : 1. Six schools have nections as well as those that are still in a ratio below this average value. The the planning stage to establish connec- highest student-computer ratio being 18 : tions. Thirdly, there are innumerable cy- 1 and the lowest 633 : 1. ber cafes scattered within the city, which are available for student’s use. Only nine schools are connected to the Internet. The number of computers that are actually networked to the Internet is The population of this study comprises very small. Four out of nine schools 2,274 students from all form four and six provided only one terminal for browsing. science students from fourteen schools in Three of the schools have two units of Kuala Lumpur. A stratified random sam- computers each for accessing the Net. ple of 608 students answered the ques- One school has five terminals, while tionnaire which constitute 219 male and another has 36 terminals. This extra- 139 female students from the fourth form ordinarily large number is attributed to a and 100 male and 150 female respon- sponsored pilot smart school project dents from the sixth form. This figure launched in 1997. constituted 26.74% of the population. The questionnaire was distributed perso- Location of the Internet terminals vary nally to the students during class hours from school to school. The locations and collected at the end of a 40 minute identified are the school resource centre, period, resulting in a 100% response the computer room, a special room for rate. The items that have not been Internet use, rooms used by the school’s answered fully and correctly were treated computer clubs, the school office and the as missing data. The calculations of per- principal’s office.

3 Wee, S.H.

Table 1: Number of Computers in Schools

School No. of Student : Internet Access* No. of Net Computers Computer Availability Points Computers 1. A 2 633 : 1 No - - 2. B 2 620 : 1 No - - 3. C 4 603 : 1 Yes Principal 1 4. D 5 368 : 1 No - - 5. E 6 236 : 1 Yes SRC 1 6. F 7 214 : 1 Yes Internet 5 7. G 8 158 : 1 No - - 8. H 11 135 : 1 Yes SRC 2 9. I 28 56 : 1 No - - 10. J 29 38 : 1 Yes Com 1 11. K 31 48 : 1 Yes SRC, Com 2 12. L 41 35 : 1 Yes Internet 36 13. M 66 18 : 1 Yes Com 1 14. N 81 37 : 1 Yes Admin 2 * Admin = Administrative Office; Com = Computer Club’s Room; Internet = Internet Room; Principal = Principal’s Office; SRC = School Resource Centre.

Computers and Internet at Home the other 209 (34.4%) could access the Net (Figure 1). The results indicate that Among the 608 respondents, 446 (73.4%) computer ownership was quite common, had computers at home. However, 237 and slightly more than one-third of the respondents (39.0%) had computers which respondents had Internet access from were not connected to the Internet while their home.

Figure 1: Computer Ownership and Internet Access

Computers No with Internet Computer 34.4% 26.6%

Computers without Internet 39.0% 4 Internet Use Amongst Secondary School Students

Use of computers Use of Internet

The results indicate that 565 respondents A total of 313 respondents (51.5%) indica- (92.9%) use the computer and only 43 ted that they use the Internet, while 295 (7.1%) are non-users. For those who use (48.5%) said otherwise. Figure 3 depicts computers, 35 (5.7%) first started using the year when respondents started using it before 1990 (Figure 2). The number of the Internet. Five respondents first new computer users has increased over accessed the Net in 1993. The number of the 1990s, and peaked in 1997 with 80 new users increased steadily until 1995 new users. and peaked to 148 in 1997.

Figure 2: Number of New Computer Users by Year

90 80 80 73 75 70 65 61 60 58 55 50 40 37 Frequency 30 25 26 20

10 1 2 3 4 0 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 Year

Figure 3: Number of New Internet Users by Year

160 148 140 120 100 89 80 60 51 40 No. of Respondents 20 8 5 12 0 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 Year 5 Wee, S.H.

Reason for Not Using the Internet net non-users, that is, 295 only. “Not available at home” was also a hindrance When queried as to the reason for not to Internet use. “Not available in using the Internet, the most common school”, “do not have any reason to use reason quoted by non-users was “do not it’, “do not have time to use it”, “incon- know how to use it”. Table 2 shows the various reasons reported and the percent- venience” and “payment of fees” were other reasons mentioned. ages were based on the number of Inter-

Table 2: Reasons Why Respondents do not Use the Internet

Reason Frequency % Do not know how to use it. 107 36.3 Not available at home. 67 22.7 Not available in school. 34 11.5 No reason to use it. 32 10.8 Do not have time to use it. 25 8.5 Available but inconvenient to use in school 25 8.5 Available in school, but must pay a fee 5 1.7 Total 295 100.0

Places Used to Access the Internet friends’ or relatives’ houses (49 respondents). The data suggests that school’s Most of the respondents primarily used Internet facility was under utilised when the Internet at home. Figure 4 shows that compared to cyber cafes. Other places as many as 224 out of 313 respondents where respondents use the Internet were gave this response. The second most im- parents’ offices and libraries. portant place for these respondents was

Figure 4: Places Where Students Access the Internet

Others At school Cyber café 4 15 21 (1..3%) (4.8%) (6.7%) Friend/ relative's house 49 (15.6%)

At home 224 (71.6%) 6 Internet Use Amongst Secondary School Students

Method of Acquiring Internet Skills respondents (6.1%) learned to use the In- ternet by attending training programmes. The respondents learned to use the The role of teachers in this respect was Internet by themselves, learning from even less significant, with only 8 respon- friends, teachers, fathers and siblings, or dents (2.6%) gaining the skill through attending training programmes. Table 3 their teachers. Very few respondents (7 indicates that 147 respondents (47.0%) or 2.2%) learned the use of Internet from learned through self-teaching, while 132 their parents or siblings. (42.1%) learned from friends. Only 19

Table 3: Method of Acquiring Internet Skill

How Frequency % Self-taught 147 47.0 From friends 132 42.1 From training programmes 19 6.1 From teachers 8 2.6 From father/siblings 7 2.2 Total 313 100.0

Time Spent on Internet week. Only fifteen (4.8%), six (1.9%) and six (1.9%) respondents respectively Figure 5 shows that 221 respondents spent 11-15 hours, 16-20 hours and more (70.6%) spent five hours or less per than 20 hours per week on this super- week accessing the Internet. This works highway. The respondents spent an out to be less than one hour a day. average of 4.89 hours per week on Relatively very few respondents go on Internet (Table 4). the Internet for more than 10 hours per

Figure 5: Time Spent on Internet

250 221 (70.6%) 200

150

100 65 (20.8%)

Number of Respondents 50 15 6 6 (4.8%) (1.9%) (1.9%) 0 5 & below 6-10 hrs 11-15 hrs 16-20 hrs Above 20 Hours Per Week 7 Wee, S.H.

Types of Internet Functions Usage 2.24 hours, and maximum time spent by respondents was 14 hours. Table 4 shows the distribution of time spent on each of the Internet functions. Frequency of Using the WWW The World Wide Web (WWW), e-mail, newsgroups and other functions were Very few respondents use the WWW used. As many as 286 (91.4%) of those everyday. Table 5 shows that, only 37 who used the Internet explored WWW. respondents (11.8%) searched the Web On an average, 2.18 hours per week were every day. The majority (116, 37.1%) used for browsing, the highest among all accessed the Web more than once a week functions. The standard deviation was but not every day.

Table 4: Time Spent on Various Internet Functions

No. of % of Net Time spent per week (hours) Function respondents Users Mean Std. deviation Maximum WWW 286 91.4 2.18 2.24 14.00 E-mail 236 75.4 0.84 1.13 12.00 Newsgroups 49 15.7 0.22 0.67 6.00 Others 172 55.0 1.65 2.88 22.00 Overall 313 - 4.89 4.75 30.00

Table 5: Frequency of Using the WWW

Frequency of Use No. of respondents % Every Day 37 11.8 More than once a Week 116 37.1 Once a Week 73 23.3 > once a month but < once a week 60 19.2 Do not use 27 8.6 Total 313 100.0

Browsers / Search Engines Preferred surfing. The most popular Net browser used was Internet Explorer (195 res- The majority of the Web users (199, pondents), closely followed by Netscape 69.6%) used only one browser for (179 respondents). 8 Internet Use Amongst Secondary School Students

Although most of the Web users (174, Types of Use Made of the WWW 60.8%) keep to one single search engine, some do make use of two (80, 28.0%), Close to half (142, 49.7%) of those who three (24, 8.4%), or four (8, 2.8%) search searched the Web, used it for study- engines for their tasks. related activities. However, when asked to describe how WWW was used for this Yahoo! was the most popular search en- purpose, few provided the details. Table gine with 274 (95.8%) users (Figure 6). 6 contains some activities mentioned by This was followed by Alta Vista, Info- more than one respondent. Many of the seek, and Webcrawler respectively. Other described searches were confined to search engines named by the respondents general subject terms. were Lycos (16), Cari (6), and Excite (2).

Figure 6: Preference for Search Engines

300 274 250

200

150 Frequency 100 74 54 50 18 24

0 Yahoo! Infoseek AltaVista Webcrawler Others Search Engines

Table 6: Activities Using WWW for Information

Activities Frequency Assignments or Projects 64 Biography 5 Biology 5 English assignments 7 English Literature 2 General Paper 5 History 12

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Web Sites Frequented visited. Only 86 respondents could give 3 Web sites, while 23 could name 2, and When requested to name three Web sites 28 named only 1 Web site respectively. that were most frequently visited by As the sites named were diverse, only them, most of the respondents failed to those mentioned by five or more do so. This may be taken as an indication respondents are listed in Table 7. that the respondents are not familiar with www.yahoo.com tops the lists of favorite the sites or that the respondents cannot sites, followed closely by www.hot- remember the URL addresses of websites mail.com.

Table 7: Some WWW Sites Frequented by Respondents

WWW Sites Frequency www.casio.com 5 www.fifa.com 5 www.geocities.com 22 www.hotmail.com 60 www.lyrics.com 6 www.mp3.com 9 www.microsoft.com 9 www.nba.com 7 www.sony.com 8 www.soccernet.com 7 www.yahoo.com 64

Frequency of E-Mail Usage mum time spent here was 12.00 hours per week. The frequency of use is pre- A total of 236 respondents (75.4%) used sented in Table 8. Again it is observed the e-mail function (Table 4). Relatively that a relatively small percentage of the less time was spent on this function. The respondents accessed E-mail every day. mean time was only 0.84 hours per week The more common frequency was “more with a standard deviation of 1.27. Maxi- than once a week but not every day”.

10 Internet Use Amongst Secondary School Students

Table 8: Frequency of E-mail Usage

Frequency of Use No. of respondents % Every day 40 12.8 More than once a week 94 30.0 Once a week 53 16.9 > Once a month but < once a week 49 15.7 Do not use 77 24.6 Total 313 100.0

Types of E-Mail Usage used e-mail to receive regular updates on products. Activities carried out by respondents using the e-mail facility are presented in On study-related activities using e-mail, Table 9. The common activities were, 10 out of the 25 users did not specify the corresponding with parents, brothers and mode. Exchange of information with sisters, or friends (164, 69.5%), and with foreign friends, discussing mathematics, “key-pals” (141, 59.7%). Study-related history and other homework, asking for discussion through e-mail was not information on subject assignments were popular, having only been applied by 25 examples of how the respondents used e- respondents. Eight respondents (3.4%) mail for study.

Table 9: E-mail Activities of Respondents Activities Frequency % Study-related 25 10.6 Corresponds with parents/siblings/friends 164 69.5 Corresponds with “key-pals” 141 59.7 Receive updates on products 8 3.4

Participation in Newsgroups and 12 used it more than once a month but less than once a week. A very small number of respondents used the Newsgroups or Discussion Lists. Only 15 out of the 49 respondents used Table 4 shows that only 49 respondents Newsgroups for study-related activities. (15.7%) spent some time with this func- Eleven of them did not give details on tion. It had a mean value of 0.22 hours the types of assignments or topics per week with a standard deviation of discussed (Table 10). Two respondents 0.67. Seven respondents used it every- mentioned that the Lists were used to day, 20 used it more than once a week gather information for English literature but not everyday, 10 used it once a week, assignments.

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Table 10: Study-related Activities using Newsgroups

Activities Frequency Class discussion on assignments 11 English Literature 2 Others (undetermined) 2 Total 15

Other Uses of the Internet their own home facilities quoted “control by parents”, and “lack of time” as Beside those mentioned above, other reasons for non-use. Internet functions used by the respondents were Internet Relay Chat or IRC The effect of Internet availability in a and I Seek You or ICQ (163 respon- school over its use by the students is dents), downloading (7 respondents), and analyzed. Table 11 shows the proportion playing games (2 respondents). A mean of Net users and non-users in schools value of 1.65 hours per week for these with and without Internet facilities. The purposes is shown in Table 4. availability of Internet in school seems to significantly influence the use of Internet Availability of Internet Facilities and by students. In schools without Internet Internet Use connection, only 39.0% of the students used the Net and in schools with access It is natural to assume that all students to the Information Superhighway, a who have Internet connections in their relatively higher percentage (58.0%) of the homes would use the Net. Only 224 out 2 of 237 Internet subscribers use it at students used the Internet (c = 19.9, df. home. Those respondents who do not use 1, p<0.01).

Table 11: Availability of Internet in School and Use of Internet (N=608)

School Internet Facilities Yes No Total Yes 231 82 313 Use of (58.0%) (39.0%) Internet No 167 128 295 (42.0%) (61.0%) Total 398 210 608 (100.0%) (100.0%) c2 = 19.9, df 1, sig. < 0.01 12 Internet Use Amongst Secondary School Students

On further analysis, the results indicate a 55.4% used the Internet when compared significant relationship between the to only 39.3% and 38.7% of those who location of the Internet terminals and its obtained ‘B’ and ‘C’ (c2 = 11.8, df 2, p £ use by the students (c2 = 24.9, p£ 0.01). 0.01). The results indicate that the The results indicate that the use of students who obtain better grade in the Internet is significantly related to the English language are more likely to use locality of Internet access. the Internet.

Academic Background and Internet Mathematical Ability Use When the distribution of mathematics score were cross-tabulated with use of The use of computers and Internet has Internet, no significant relationship was always been associated with English pro- indicated even though the student’s per- ficiency and mathematical ability. These formance in mathematics were generally abilities, indicated by English language high. and mathematics scores of the students in the lower secondary assessment (PMR) Student’s Level of Education examination, and its relationship with the Internet use by the students from two use of Internet were investigated. different levels of study (Form 4 and 6) English Language Proficiency were compared. Although a higher pro- Table 12 depicts the distribution of portion of respondents from the fourth respondent’s achievement in English form (53.9%) use the Internet as com- language in relation to the use of pared to those in the sixth form (48.0%), Internet. The use of Internet is signifi- no significant difference is indicated in cantly related to student’s English the results obtained. The use of Internet language ability. Among those who amongst secondary science students is obtained ‘A’ in the PMR level English, not related to level of education.

Table 12: English Language Achievement and Use of Internet

English Language A B C Total Use of Yes 255 46 12 313 Internet (55.4%) (39.3%) (38.7%) No 205 71 19 295 (44.6%) (60.7%) (61.3%) Total 460 117 31 608 (100.0%) (100.0%) (100.0%) c2 = 11.8, df 2, p £ 0.01

13 Wee, S.H.

Demographic Variables and Internet likely to be Internet users (c2 = 43.5, df Use 5, p £ 0.01).

Parents’ Education Level and Internet Total Family Income Use Total family income includes both the Table 13 presents the distribution of father’s and mother’s earnings. The highest educational level achieved by results indicate that as the family income either the father or mother of respon- decreases, the proportion of students dents. The results indicate that, as the who use the Internet also decreases education level of parents becomes (Table 14). As many as 220 respondents lower, the percentage of students who (36.2%) did not know their parents’ use the Internet decreases. The 7 income per month, and these responses respondents (1.2%) who answered that were omitted in the analysis. The results they did not know the academic quali- significantly indicated that students from fication of their parents were not inclu- families with higher income are more ded in the analysis. The results signifi- likely to use the Internet (c2 = 27.9, df 5, cantly showed that children of parents who received higher education are more p £ 0.01).

Table 13: Highest Education Level of Parents and Use of Internet

Highest Education Level* Univ. HSC MCE LCE Primary No Ed. DNK Total Yes 59 52 119 44 36 1 2 313 Use (72.8%) (67.5%) (53.8%) (35.5%) (37.5%) (50.0%) (28.6%) Internet No 22 25 102 80 60 1 5 295 (27.2%) (32.5%) (46.2%) (64.5%) (62.5%) (50.0%) (71.4%) 81 77 221 124 96 2 7 608 c2 = 43.5, df 5, p £ 0.01. * Univ. = University; HSC = Higher School Certificate; MCE = Malaysian Certificate of Education; LCE = Lower Certificate of Education; Primary = Primary School; No Ed. = No Education; DNK = Do not know

. Table 14: Total Family Income and Use of Internet

Income Group* 1 2 3 4 5 6 DNK Total Yes 12 3 14 33 63 59 129 313 Use (92.3%) (50.0%) (63.6%) (58.9%) (52.1%) (34.7%) (58.6%) Internet No 1 3 8 23 58 111 91 295 (7.7%) (50.0%) (36.4%) (41.1%) (47.9%) (65.3%) (41.4%) 13 6 22 56 121 170 220 608 c2 = 43.5, df 5, p £ 0.01. *1. RM10,000 & Above; 2. RM8,000 to 9,999; 3. RM6,000 to 7,999; 4. RM4,000 to 5,999; 5. RM2,000 to 3,999; 6. Below RM2,000; DNK = Do Not know

14 Internet Use Amongst Secondary School Students

Gender related to the use of Internet faced by the Cross tabulation of gender and use of respondents. Lack of skills (30.7%) topped Internet shows that a higher fraction of the problem list, followed by the lack of boys (62.4%) used the Net compared to time (20.8%). Other problems mentioned girls (39.4%) (Table 15). The results are “unable to get connected”, “lack of indicated a significant relationship be- funds”, and “parental control”. tween gender and use of Internet (c2 = 31.9, df 1, p £ 0.01). Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Internet Problems in Using the Internet To find out how respondents viewed the Of those who used the Internet, 74 pros and cons of using the Internet as a (23.6%) claimed that they did not face source of information, the opinions of any major problem in using the Net. Net users were sought. Those who did Table 16 displays the various problems not use Internet were excluded.

Table 15: Gender and Internet Use Gender Male Female Total Yes 199 114 313 Use of (62.4%) (39.4%) Internet No 120 175 295 (37.6%) (60.6%) Total 319 289 608 (100.0%) (100.0%) c2 = 31.9, df 1, p £ 0.01

Table 16: Problems When Using Internet

Problems Frequency % No major problems 74 23.6 Lack of skills 96 30.7 Lack of time 65 20.8 Unable to get connected 38 12.1 Lack of funds 34 10.9 Parental control 6 1.9 Total 313 100.0

15 Wee, S.H.

The advantages of using Internet to disadvantages, 81 (25.9%) felt that obtain information mentioned by the “using the Internet to obtain information Internet users are listed in Table 17. The is very costly”, while another 58 (18.5%) types of advantages comprises “Internet expressed that “it is very time-consu- provides fast and efficient access to ming”. Other disadvantages were “it has information” (100, 31.9%), “Internet uncensored pornographic or criminal contains lots of information” (51, 16.3%), materials”, “irrelevant information is “easy to get information” (47, 15.0%), quite often obtained”, “it is difficult to “wide variety of information” (32, 10.2%), find precisely the desired information”, and “up-to-date information” (31,9.9%). “reliability of information obtained is Table 18 indicates that 38 respondents questionable”, and “information obtained (12.1%) felt that the Internet offers no is insufficient”.

Table 17: Advantages of Obtaining Information from Internet Advantages Frequency % Fast and efficient 100 31.9 Lots of information 51 16.3 Easy to get information 47 15.0 Wide variety of information 32 10.2 Up to date information 31 9.9 Convenient 17 5.4 Fun and entertaining 8 2.6 Can exchange view globally 8 2.6 Did not give any response 19 6.1 Total 313 100.0

Table 18. Disadvantages of Obtaining Information from Internet Disadvantages Frequency % No disadvantage 38 12.1 Costly 81 25.9 Time consuming 58 18.5 Uncensored pornography 41 13.1 Relevancy of information 31 9.9 Difficult to find desired information 28 8.9 Reliability of information 23 7.4 Insufficient information obtained 5 1.6 Did not give any response 8 2.6 Total 313 100.0

16 Internet Use Amongst Secondary School Students

Perceived Effects of the Internet ing respondents were of the opinion that Internet had a positive effect on their The effects of Internet on the students as learning process. A total of 38 respon- perceived by the respondents are pre- dents (12.1%) said that Internet had sented in Table 19. A great majority of increased their scope of knowledge and the respondents (234, 74.8%) expressed the opinion that the Internet did not broadened their minds, 18 (5.7%) felt that it allows information to be gathered affect one’s learning process. Only 14 more efficiently, and 9 (2.9%) claimed respondents (4.5%) considered the use of that it had increased their English pro- Internet very time consuming, thus ficiency. reducing the time for study. The remain-

Table 20. Effects of Internet on Respondents Effects Frequency % No effect 234 74.8 Increase scope of knowledge 38 12.1 More efficient information gathering for study 18 5.7 Increase English proficiency 9 2.9 Waste time 14 4.5 Total 313 100.0

CONCLUSION awareness among students that the Internet can supplement the traditional Although all schools in this study have sources of information. Furthermore, as computers, only 64.3% of the compu- students who are reluctant users of ters are connected to the Internet. This traditional sources of information may figure is unsatisfactory, especially for be motivated to use the Internet (Olen, schools in Kuala Lumpur where tele- 1996), schools should take advantage communication access is not a pro- of this interest in technology to provide blem. Connectivity to the world is a an environment for learning the survi- basic amenity if the country wants to val skills to meet the digital infor- achieve globalization and provide mation waves. world class education. Among the 295 non-Internet users, the In addition, only three of the nine most common reason quoted was lack schools linked to the Information Su- of knowledge on its use. Shoemaker perhighway locate Internet terminals in (1997) has also identified this inhibitor the school resource centres. Physical on the use of Internet by school stu- separation from the school resource dents. This implies that to promote centre will not be able to promote Internet use to potential users, training 17 Wee, S.H.

needs to be provided. Formal training most accessible to students and thus should be extended to current Internet most used. Furthermore, it reinforces users since 30.7% of the current users the notion that Internet is an infor- acknowledged that lack of Internet mation source. skills is also a major problem to them. Information skills as well as Internet “Time consuming” is a disadvantage skills should be taught to all students quoted by 18.5% of the respondents, and intergrated in the school’s curri- which concurs with Christensen (1997), culum. By doing this, the students can Gan (1998) and Olen’s (1996) obser- fully reap the full benefits of this vations. Many others (9.9%) have information superstore to complement mentioned “relevancy of information traditional sources in fulfilling their retrieved” as a disadvantage of using information needs. the Internet. Olen (1996), Orr and Fankhauser (1996) have reported on Non-availability of Internet facilities at the same weakness. Another disad- home and in school was quoted as a vantage mentioned was “difficult to barrier to its use. This concurs with the find desired information” (8.9%) which findings of Gan (1998). It was obvious is also indicated in Levin’s (1996) from the findings of this study that findings. A weakness of the Internet socio-economic background directly cited by 13.1% of the respondents was affects Internet availability at home and the presence of pornographic materials. its use by the students. Since it is This issue has been much debated (Ang impossible to ensure Internet access to and Nadarajah, 1996; Barron, 1996; all homes, providing Internet access to Maddux, 1994; Rheingold, 1994; Truett, all schools is a necessity. All students 1997). Other weaknesses cited are should be given the opportunities and “cost” (25.9%), “reliability of informa- access to this digital information tool tion” (7.4%) and “incompleteness of of the 21st century, so that they will be the information”. For all its disadvan- able to match and meet the foreseeable tages, the use of computers and es- needs of the country. pecially the Internet to obtain and disseminate information is here to stay. The study also shows that the locality It is therefore, the responsibility of the where Internet terminals are placed is schools to equip future students with related to its usage. This agrees with the appropriate facilities and necessary the findings of earlier studies (Johnson, skills to be information literate in order 1995; Johnson, 1997). Thus the school to thrive and succeed in today’s infor- must plan well, providing easy and mation-abundant and rapidly changing convenient access to students. It might world. be suggested that the best location is the school resource centre. This is ACKNOWLEDGEMENT based on the assumption that if an Internet terminal were placed in the I wish to thank Associate Professor school resource center, it would be Zainab Awang Ngah of the Master of

18 Internet Use Amongst Secondary School Students

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